Boston takes nightcap of doubleheader, Jeter ends hitting streak

Boston beat the New York Yankees twice in one
day for the first time in 30 years, rallying for a 5-4 victory Sunday
night when Coco Crisp robbed Jorge
Posada of a two-run homer in the eighth and Mark
Loretta hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth.

In the opener of the teams' second consecutive day-night doubleheader, David
Ortiz's league-leading 49th homer and Kevin
Youkilis' three-run double in the seventh boosted Boston to a
6-3 win.

"Unfortunately, where we are in the standings, it's more of a moral
victory," Loretta said.

Boston, which overcame a 4-2, eighth-inning deficit in the nightcap, had
not defeated the Yankees twice in one day since July 31, 1976, at Fenway
Park, and hadn't accomplished the feat at Yankee Stadium since July 4,
1973.

It was only a month ago that the Yankees swept five games in Boston from
Aug. 18-21 to take a 6½-game lead that pretty much finished
off the Red Sox.

"They come into our place and kill us, it's just nice to come into their
place -- even though the situation is a lot different right now -- and
still play hard and pull off most of these games," Crisp said.

While beating the Yankees in three of four in a 34½-hour
span, the situation remains bleak for the Red Sox. New York was in
position to clinch its ninth consecutive division title with a sweep
Sunday combined with a Blue Jays loss to the Devil Rays. But even before
the Red Sox recorded the final out of the opener, Toronto won 5-3.

"Sooner or later, we are going to clinch this thing," Johnny
Damon said.

New York leads the AL East by 9½ games over the Red Sox, has
a magic number of four and hopes to wrap up the division during a
seven-game trip to Toronto and Tampa Bay that starts Monday. Last year,
the Yankees clinched at Fenway Park on the next-to-last day of the
regular season.

"If they're going to clinch it, let them do it on somebody else's time,"
Crisp said.

Even with the wins, Boston is 7½ games behind Minnesota, the
AL wild-card leader.

"There's no glory here," Youkilis said. "It doesn't make us happy, at
all. Our goal this year was to win the division and we didn't accomplish
it, barring a miracle."

Derek Jeter sat out the opener and went 0-for-4 in the second
game, ending his hitting streak at 25 games, the longest for the Yankees
since Joe Gordon's 29-game string in 1942. Jeter's average fell to .341,
three points behind Minnesota's Joe Mauer,
the AL leader.

Posada had three RBI, including a two-run double that gave the Yankees a
4-2 lead in the sixth, but Jason Varitek hit a run-scoring single in the
eighth off Mike Myers, who threw a run-scoring wild pitch on an 0-2
count with two outs.

"I squandered the opportunity," Myers said.

Posada hit a drive to deep left-center in the bottom half that was about
to be a two-run homer when Crisp ran over from center and leaped at the
wall to catch it.

"I had it lined up pretty well, timed it well," Crisp said. "I was able
to keep my hands closed on it, and it stayed in."

Then Carlos Pena doubled off Kyle Farnsworth (3-5) in the ninth and
Crisp sacrificed, with Posada's throw pulling Andy Phillips off the
first-base bag for an error. Loretta flied to shallow center, and
pinch-runner Alex Cora scored ahead of Bernie Williams' weak throw.

Javier Lopez (1-0) picked up the win, and Mike Timlin finished for his
eighth save, his second of the day.

"We've come to grips a little bit with what's going on, and now I'm just
kind of relaxing," Timlin said.

Mike Mussina pitched six innings, allowing his only runs on Trot Nixon's
two-run homer in the second. He appeared to be over the strained groin
that sent him to the disabled list from Aug. 21 to Sept. 5.

Notes

Cabrera made a running grab of Eric Hinske's fly ball down the
left-field line starting the seventh of the opener. Cabrera extended his
glove, caught the ball in the webbing, and his momentum carried him into
the first row of the stands -- reminiscent of Jeter's startling,
hurtling catch against the Red Sox on July 1, 2004, but not as difficult
or dramatic. "The padding helped me a lot, so it was a nice fall,"
Cabrera said through a translator.

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